MU_2018_JulyAugust-HR

34 MACHINERY UPDATE JULY/AUGUST 2018 www.machineryupdate.co.uk
Installation News
VFFS machine meets customer
demand for a biltong producer
Intamac Packaging Systems
has installed a vertical
form, fill and seal (VFFS)
machine at Simply African
Foods to keep up with the
growing demand for its range
of biltong products.
The machine is an
IPS420E-SS with integrated
10 head multi-head which is
specially designed to pack
dried goods for the snack food
industry.
Simply African Foods was
established in 2002 by Donald
Dodson, who discovered that
traditional South African food
was not produced to a high
standard in the UK. Today, and
with orders from supermarkets
across the UK, the company has
had to speed up its production.
It was on a cold Christmas Eve
in 2017, at a Farmer’s Market in
Petersfield, that the family-firm
first learnt about Intamac and
its VFFS pouch machine.
While sampling some chilli
biltong, Fran Bowes of Intamac
realised that the company
needed to drastically increase
its productivity.
The driving force behind
Purchasing the machine has been a turning point for the family owned business
Simply African Foods is
Donald’s son Neil who
has continued to grow the
business. Neil realised that
the opportunities were there
to move onto the next level,
from hand-packing to a fully
automated system, and he
believes that purchasing the
machine is a turning point for
the company.
“We were initially
concerned about the outlay on
a packaging machine but the
Intamac machinery is compact
and great value,” he says.
“We’ve been able to remain
in our current premises, train
our great team to use the new
machinery and worked closely
with Intamac to create
a bespoke solution.”
The machine has also
enabled a number of cost
savings to be made including
15% on packaging costs
over the coming year.
“We have been able to increase
one of our key contracts from
packing 700 packs a week to
9,700 packs, and this is just
the beginning,” he continues.
“We have more buying power
with our suppliers, in particular
for meat and packaging,
because we are producing so
much more product to fulfil
the new contracts that we
have won since purchasing
the automatic machine.”
Tom Poston, sales executive
for Intamac, understood the
food company’s requirements
from the offset. “When we first
met with Neil we knew that
he was our perfect customer,”
he says. “We looked at their
current production and what
they wanted to achieve in the
future and recommended the
IPS420E-SS as the perfect
solution for them.”
T 01420 593680
W www.buckham.co.uk/
about-intamac
Integrated topload cartoner has proved popular with firms
in the cake, biscuit and cereal bar sectors since interpack
Bosch Packaging Technology
company Kliklok is reporting
excellent sales for its ITC
integrated topload cartoner
that it first launched at
interpack, last year.
Food companies in the
US and Europe have already
ordered the new system to
pack flow wrapped mini-cakes,
digestive biscuits and cereal
bars in 4; 5; 10 and 12-pack
variants. The single,
fully automated solution
performs three main
functions; carton forming,
loading
and closing,
using just
one HMI
touch
screen.
According
to Kliklok
marketing
manager
Michelle
Newman,
this enables
The ITC loads products ‘on the move’
to achieve the higher speed output
interlink
three
separate
pieces of
equipment
with the
associated
conveyors.
The
Kliklok ITC
offers the
flexibility
to change
manufacturers to reduce their
production line footprint and
avoid the need to source and
formats and run a variety of
carton styles and products,
be they flow wraps, roll wraps,
or tablets. Once the carton
is formed, an intelligent
transport system is used
to carry it independently
through the machine loading
and closing module. Product
loading is carried out by
robots which achieve high
speed operation.
In addition, the robots
used in the ITC are able to
track the carton transport
system and load products
‘on the move’.
T 01275 836131
W www.kliklok-int.com